Process for treating fibrous products containing cellulosic fibers

Abstract

A process for modifying a fibrous product containing cellulosic fibers, which comprises impregnating said fibrous product with a treating liquor containing a chemical textile finishing agent, and then heat-treating the impregnated fabric in the presence of an acid catalyst which comprises a fluorocarboxylic acid of the formula C.sub.n F.sub.p H.sub.q COOH wherein n is an integer of 1 to 5, p is 2 to 10, and q is 0 or 1, with the proviso that the sum of p and q equals 2n + 1. The fibrous product thus treated has markedly improved shrinkage resistance, dry crease resistance, wet crease resistance and wash and wear properties while retaining mechanical strength characteristics.

What we claim is: 
     
       1. In a process for modifying a fibrous product containing cellulosic fibers, by impregnating said fibrous product with a treating liquor containing a chemical textile finishing agent, and then heat-treating the impregnated fabric in the presence of an acid catalyst, the improvement which comprises using as said acid catalyst a fluorocarboxylic acid of the formula   C.sub.n F.sub.p H.sub.q COOH     wherein n is an integer of 1 to 5, p is 2 to 10, and q is 0 or 1, with the proviso that the sum of p and q equals 2n + 1 the amount of said fluorocarboxylic acid being 0.01 to 1.5% by weight based on the weight of the treating liquor.     
     
     
       2. The process of claim 1 wherein said fluorocarboxylic acid is selected from the group consisting of CF 3  COOH, CF 2  HCCOH, C 2  F 5  COOH, C 2  F 4  HCOOH, C 3  F 7  COOH, C 3  F 6  HCOOH, C 4  F 9  COOH, C 4  F 8  HCOOH, C 5  F 11  COOH and C 5  F 10  HCOOH. 
     
     
       3. The process of claim 1 wherein said fluorocarboxylic acid is trifluoroacetic acid. 
     
     
       4. The process of claim 1 wherein said fluorocarboxylic acid is present in the treating liquor. 
     
     
       5. The process of claim 1 wherein said fluorocarboxylic acid is used in an amount of 0.1 to 10% by weight, based on the chemical finishing agent. 
     
     
       6. The process of claim 1 wherein said fluorocarboxylic acid is present in the treating liquor in a concentration of 0.05 to 0.5% by weight based on the weight of the treating liquor. 
     
     
       7. The process of claim 1 wherein said fluorocarboxylic acid is used in an amount of 0.05 to 15% by weight, based on the chemical textile finishing agent. 
     
     
       8. The process of claim 1 wherein said chemical textile finishing agent is an N-methylol compound or its functional derivatives. 
     
     
       9. The process of claim 1 wherein said chemical textile finishing agent is a film-forming glycidyl-containing thermoplastic polymer. 
     
     
       10. The process of claim 1 wherein said chemical textile finishing agent consists of an N-methylol compound or its functional derivative and a film-forming glycidyl-containing thermoplastic polymer. 
     
     
       11. The process of claim 1 wherein said chemical textile finishing agent consists of an imidazolidinone derivative of the following formula ##STR12## wherein R 1  and R 2 , independently from each other, represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, or an alkyl group substituted with a hydroxyl, cyano, carboxyl, lower alkoxy carbonyl or carbamoyl group, and R 3  and R 4 , independently from each other, represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, or an acyl group, or both said imidazolidinone derivative and a film-forming glycidyl-containing thermoplastic polymer.